


The Idiot Genius

by supercalvin



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 10:12:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2344631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercalvin/pseuds/supercalvin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur would have to admit that when he saw the new IT guy he only had a couple things on his mind. The first thing was that Merlin Emrys had big ears, a big smile, and he looked like a dork that Arthur Pendragon wanted to kiss immediately. The second thing was that Merlin Emrys, despite being hired by the head of the IT department, was a giant idiot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Idiot Genius

Arthur’s mind was a blur as he stomped down the steps leading to the company’s basement. He had a piece of paper in one hand and rage across his face. A woman from the IT department saw him, smiled, and then she saw his expression, and darted out of the way.

He was on the war path and Merlin Emrys better be prepared for Hell.

~

_Arthur would have to admit that when he saw the new IT guy he only had a couple things on his mind. The first thing was that Merlin Emrys had big ears, a big smile, and he looked like a dork that Arthur Pendragon wanted to kiss immediately. The second thing was that Merlin Emrys, despite being hired by the head of the IT department, was a giant_ idiot _._

~

Gwen saw Arthur on the warpath, and bless her heart, was the only one who ran up and asked him what was wrong. Of course Gwen was too sweet, so Arthur couldn’t yell at her despite being her boss. And of course Gwen was also too damned smart, so she already knew that Arthur was in the IT department because of Merlin and she already knew that he was over reacting because it was Merlin.

“Arthur, whatever it is, don’t pick a fight.” She put her hands on her hips and he found himself backing away. “You’ll only be angry at yourself afterwards.”

“Miss Smith, this is company business.” He said in his most professional voice. “But thank you for your concern.”

“Arthur, don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill.”

“Does this look like a fucking mole hill?” He held out the paper for her to read and her eyes widened in surprise. She didn’t have time to respond before Arthur was on the way to The Cave.

~

_“The Cave?” Arthur repeated, looking up at Mr. Emrys with concern for his sanity._

_“Yes.” Merlin said. “My office is a cave, have you seen it?”_

_“Mr. Emrys I asked you to have a look at my tablet, not tell me about the name you made up for your office.”_

_Merlin snorted as he swirled on the office chair as if he were a child, his fingers tapped at the tablet as he spun. Arthur was wondering why he was so attracted to the gangly dork in front of him, who ate candy at the workplace and could barely make it up a flight of stairs without tripping on half of them. But the more he saw the man and his stupidity, the more Arthur’s affection increased. It felt like a little pinky fuzzy animal that kept growing more and more. It was like those damned tribbles that wouldn’t stop multiplying._

_“There you go Mr. Pendragon.” Merlin hopped off the chair and handed him the tablet. “I’ve fixed the sync. Make sure you back up before you delete anything again.”_

_“Arthur.”_

_“What?”_

_“Just call me Arthur.” Arthur took the tablet and turned his back in case his cheeks decided to start blushing. He was sure everyone already told Merlin that he didn’t socialize much and no one in the office called him by his first name. “Thank you for fixing it.”_

_“No problem.” Arthur felt Merlin linger in the doorway but when he turned around the man was gone._

~

Arthur twisted through the maze of offices, knowing his way to The Cave easily by now. He had visited Merlin at the office more and more frequently the closer they had become. The secretaries watched him pass, no longer surprised to see him in the basement even though he worked on the top floor.

They watched him walk by, and he could almost _feel_ the gossip begin. There was no doubt that rumors would spread like wildfire in the building. Arthur wasn’t sure how news traveled so fast but he blamed the mail girl, Sefa, and the efficient email system set up by Gaius.

~

_“So I just talked to Merlin.” Gwen said._

_Arthur really shouldn’t have done it, but he hung up on her. As soon as he did it he regretted it because the last thing he needed right now was Gwen Smith angry at him._

_“Arthur Pendragon I swear to God if you hang up on me again I am walking ten flights of stairs to yell at you, and you don’t want to see me when I am riled up after climbing stairs.”_

_“The line dropped.”_

_“Arthur.”_

_“Okay. Please don’t yell at me Gwen. Come on. You’re one of the few people who knows I don’t actually like yelling and being a terrifying boss.”_

_“Don’t change the subject.”_

_“What was the subject?” Arthur asked, trying to pretend to do work even though George couldn’t see him through the closed door. It made him feel better if he was doing work while Gwen wrangled him._

_“Merlin.”_

_“What about Merlin?”_

_“He’s in an absolute tizzy because he said you asked him to have dinner and he thinks it’s either because he’s getting sacked or because you asked him out on a date. Either way, he said he’s going to have a panic attack by the time Friday rolls around. So please, tell me what it is so I can tell him and then he can panic for the proper occasion.”_

_“He’s not getting sacked.” Arthur mumbled unhelpfully._

_“So it’s a date.”_

_“No. Yes. No? Maybe?” Arthur groaned into the phone._

_“Dear God, you’re both idiots. I’m telling him it’s a date.” She hung up on him._

~

Arthur stood in the doorway of The Cave. Merlin was chewing on a chocolate candy (the wrapper was still in his hand) and he was holding a tablet in one hand as he read something on his laptop.

Arthur cleared his throat and knocked on the doorframe to make his presence known. Merlin didn’t look up. He held up his hand (dropping the wrapper) and held a finger that told Arthur to wait.

“Mr. Emrys, I advise you to finish your sweet and look at me.” Arthur growled.

Merlin looked up this time, with surprise across his features. “Arthur?” his voice sounded uncertain and a little wary. Arthur didn’t like it, but he felt the piece of paper in his hand and remembered the phone call he had a half hour ago, and his determination held firm.

“I just had an interesting phone call.”

Merlin’s wide eyes stared at him. The idiot look, Arthur saw it now for what it was. “Yes?” he asked, putting down the tablet.

“Yes.” Arthur stepped forward into the office, which was in fact more of a cave than an office with the piles of boxes full of equipment and the lack of windows. “I just had a phone call from a Miss Nimueh Isle.”

Merlin paled visibly.

~

_“Oh God you’re an idiot.” Arthur moaned. “You can’t be this stupid, it isn’t possible.” Arthur pressed more kisses onto Merlin’s lips and felt Merlin’s hips press into his and Merlin’s arms wrap around his neck._

_“No, it’s just part of my charm.” Merlin whispered into Arthur’s ear. For a moment Arthur’s brain flashed to the idea that maybe Merlin knew exactly what he was doing with those wide eyes and dumb ears._

_But then Merlin pulled away, pecking a delicate kiss to Arthur’s cheek, before hopping down the steps and leaving Arthur to watch him go._

~

Now Arthur was certain that Merlin knew exactly what he had been doing by playing the fool. And he had played it well because he had fooled Arthur quite effortlessly.

“Nimueh called?” Merlin asked.

“Ah, so you do know each other.” Arthur ground his teeth together. “You see, she called me about half an hour ago. She asked me where I had been hiding you. Silly me, all I could have possibly think of was ‘How did she know about The Cave?’”

Merlin set his elbows on his desk and covered his face. But Arthur did not stop.

“Of course, I didn’t say that. What I said was, ‘What do you mean, you’ve been searching for Merlin Emrys for two years?’”

Merlin still wouldn’t look at him so he slammed the piece of paper onto the desk. Merlin startled a little, looking down at the sheet.

“So I did a bit of googling. It didn’t take long. No, not long at all. All I had to google was ‘Merlin Emrys.’”

~

_Arthur walked out of The Cave and was greeted immediately by Gwen. He halted in his tracks. He hoped his tie was straight and his hair wasn’t too messy. Merlin did like to run his fingers through Arthur’s hair. Maybe making out at work wasn’t as brilliant an idea as Arthur had thought._

_“Arthur.” She said, her eyes watching him closely._

_“Gwen.” He tried to say with a stern voice._

_“Merlin’s in there, I assume? Important business?” She was smirking and Arthur was running out of the IT department._

~

Arthur shut the door, giving them privacy, and Merlin picked up the sheet of paper. It was a newspaper article from about three years ago.

_“SUPSI Breakthrough in AI thanks to 24 year old Dr. Merlin Emrys”_

Merlin’s smiling face was printed in black and white, slightly crumbled from where Arthur had been holding the paper. Merlin didn’t even read the article, Arthur was sure he had read it before.

“Imagine my surprise when Miss Nimueh Isle calls me, all the way from Switzerland, and asks me where I’ve been hiding her brilliant scientist.”

Arthur pressed his hands against Merlin’s desk, hoping his broad shoulders made him look intimidating as he stared down at Merlin.

“Imagine my surprise when I google my boyfriend’s name and find several scientific journals and articles. When I read a news article telling me his IQ is over 140 and he has a fucking PhD, something which was definitely not on his job application to be an _IT guy_.” Merlin finally looked up at Arthur and he hoped Merlin saw how much Arthur was hurt alongside how angry he was.

“I-“ Merlin couldn’t finish his sentence. He shook his head, “Arthur-”

“You lied on your job application. You lied to _me_ , Merlin.”

“I didn’t lie. I omitted details.” Somehow, by admitting his guilt, it just made Arthur angrier to know it was true.

Arthur snapped. “It’s the same thing when it comes to applications, you dolt. You can’t omit having a PhD on your CV.”

Merlin sunk back into his chair.

“So tell me, _Dr. Emrys_.” Arthur emphasized the name, “What should I do now?”

“What should you do?” Merlin asked, his eyes wide. Arthur saw the idiot look and he wondered if it was an act or if Merlin really was an idiot.

“What the hell am I supposed to do, Merlin?” Arthur repeated, still staring down at him. “I can’t sack you for being _too_ competent. And I sure as hell can’t ignore the fact that you lied to me. So do me a favor and explain why the hell you’re even working here, in a job that is ten times below your skill level.”

“My skill level?” Merlin repeated. It sparked something in him. He sat up straighter and looked Arthur directly in the eye. “My skill level.” Merlin practically spat the term back at Arthur. He was angry and Arthur was so surprised that he backed away from him.

“Do you even know what my skill level is? Do you have _any idea_?” Merlin laughed, and Arthur felt isolated by it instead of comforted, as he usually was.

“Do you have any idea what it means to be a genius? To graduate early and get a PhD before other people the same age as you have even finished university? Do you know what it’s like to have everyone expect you to be amazing? _All the time_.”

Merlin stood up, matching Arthur’s pose by squaring his shoulders and pressing his palms to the desk, staring Arthur down. Arthur didn’t dare move.

“I worked at one of the best Artificial Intelligence labs in the entire world for one year before I had a major attack. _A year_. That was all it took for me to hate myself. Because I _wasn’t_ smart enough, I wasn’t as _clever_ as my colleagues said, and I wasn’t getting anywhere despite _all my potential_. I couldn’t fix all the world’s problems even though the statistics said I could. If I wasn’t curing cancer with one hand and negotiating world peace with the other, I was a failure.”

Merlin slammed his fist on the table, not out of anger but out of hopelessness. “Damn it.” His voice caught and Arthur felt very, very, very bad for bringing it up at all. He wished Nimueh Isle had never called him.

“I thought it was what I wanted and I thought that for a long time. But damn it, I just want to be happy and not be _The Genius_ for once. So Gaius hired me. He omitted my previous job and my schooling. So for once, I was just the IT guy who worked in a cave of an office and had a boss who thought I was an idiot but liked me anyways. He liked me even though I wasn’t making scientific breakthroughs and my career hit a brick wall. He thought I was great by just being myself. And then I didn’t know how to tell him, because everyone I’ve ever known already _knew_ and expected me to be perfect all the time. And that was the last thing I wanted from him.”

Arthur could only look at Merlin’s broken expression for a few seconds before he fell back into the guest chair and covered his face with his hands. He took several breaths to steady himself, trying to process everything he hadn’t known about Merlin Emrys.

“Damn it, Merlin.” Arthur breathed. “You should have told me. I felt like a fool when she called me. The CEO of my own company and I had no idea my IT guy, who by the way is also my boyfriend, was…” Arthur gestured in general to the article crumpled on the desk.

“Sorry.” Merlin bit his lip and slouched back into his chair.

Arthur hated seeing Merlin sad, even though he was still angry at being lied to. But the anger had cooled and all he could think of was how Merlin must have felt two years ago when he hated himself for not being perfect. But damn it, Merlin was perfect already, how dare people make him feel like shit. _How dare they_. So Arthur went around Merlin’s desk, leaning in front of Merlin’s chair. “Come here.” He said, and drew Merlin up from the chair and into his arms. Merlin curled into his embrace.

“If you still want this IT job, I won’t be the one taking it away from you. You’re free to be here, helping Mr. Simmons on the third floor with his brick of a computer and helping Gaius with the emails. Or you’re free to work in an AI lab in Switzerland. Either one.”

“I’d rather stay here.” Merlin said, pressing his nose to Arthur’s neck and his hands on Arthur’s arms.

“Then I’m not really one to complain.” Arthur pulled him away to look in his eyes. “Just…please tell me there aren’t any more secrets.”

Merlin shook his head.

Arthur nodded. He was about to lean in for a quick kiss when Merlin stopped him, grabbing Arthur’s arm tighter. “I’m not- Arthur I may be smart but I’m not…I’m still an idiot sometimes.”

Arthur smiled, “Thank God. It’s what I like about you.” And Merlin kissed him.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on The Cave in the basement where I worked in the IT department this summer. Yes, it's a real place and yes, everyone called it The Cave. Additionally: My friend is a CS major and he wants to work with AI in Switzerland, which is where I got the idea.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
